Journal: Tap7th October 2014With this being our very first tap session of the semester our tutor, Stuart Neal, explored many techniques and short tap segments with the class allowing us to become fully aware of the key elements within tap. These included weight distribution, bending of the knees, and relaxing our ankles to allow our tap sound quality to be as clear and precise as possible. Whilst rehearsing through each segment one found to have a tendency of increasing the tensions throughout my ankles and feet due to concentration. Because of this the ability to perform movements such as a shuffle and Suzie Q became difficult from the lack of mobility I was allowing my lower body to have. Once this habit was recognised and corrected, my performance when individually presenting these movements was a lot cleaner and more fluid, allowing me to experiment further with my posture and the use of arms throughout. Towards the end of the lesson Stuart set the class a challenge to individually make up a small tap routine to a specific beats 8 that were set. After clapping the beats through several times as group, we were then given 5 minutes to create our pieces. At first one believed that a task such as this would be incredibly easy, however when including beats that were accented rather than equal timed, far more concentration was needed than first thought. From performing this task one has learnt about the importance of different rhythmic patterns within dance, and how easy it can be to fall into an equal counted beat (1,2,3,4), rather than off-count (and 1, and 2, and 3). From having past knowledge in tap dancing I believe that my attitude towards the lesson was incredibly positive, as by going back to basics and working on the simpliest of moves it allows you to progress further in difficulty whilst still performing correctly.14th October 2014In todays class we re-capped the steps from last, however as Staurt is keen for us to progress we quickly moved onto higher levelled moves with focus still remaining on technicality. For me it is incredibly useful to have a tutor like this as were able to develop our standard as well as cleaning it up at the same time, so when moving onto higher difficulty content we will be performing them sufficiantly. Thankfully one had already learnt steps such as a 5 and 6 beat riff from tutors within college, however it was extremely beneficial to look at these moves once again, but in detail this time and how their counts fit towards a particular piece of music that is being played. As we had to perform these moves one by one across the room, it gave one a chance to hear the dynamics within my tapping and in result one believes that I could increase my weight to produce a louder, clearer sound. To improve of this one must focus on weight placement being forward and bending of the knees, which to one is the icing on the cake when it comes to tap, as without these factors this style fo dance wouldnt be possible. Overall one had an incredibly productive lesson and felt confident when performing in front of each other from the out of class practice that was performed this week. From my main target focusing around becoming better technically and moving to a higher set class, one rehearsed a great deal away from GSA this week, to focus on improving my weaknesses and maintaining my strengths.